BILL SUMMARY DETAILS

SB 7028 (Infrastructure and Security) addresses a number of issues related to public safety. The proposed bill:

•requires select health care practitioners, emergency medical technicians and paramedics to

disclose confidential communications to a law enforcement agency to the extent necessary to

communicate a specific threat of serious bodily injury or death.

•specifies a documentation process to use for the sale of a firearm when the seller is not a

federal firearm licensee (FFL) and chooses not to use an FFL to complete the transaction.

•creates a new section of statute to provide that a person may not sell, offer for sale, transfer

or deliver any firearm to another person for consideration when any part of a transaction is

conducted on property to which the public has the right of access, unless a criminal history

records check of background information has been completed and a unique approval number

has been obtained from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE).

•provides an FFL may charge a fee to cover administrative costs for facilitating the sale or

transfer of a firearm.

•revises current requirements related to the safe storage of firearms to provide that loaded

firearms must be securely stored to prevent access by minors under the age of 18, instead of

the current threshold of 16, and expands the safe storage requirement to include preventing

access by a person of unsound mind of any age.

•provides that the FDLE will develop a statewide strategy for targeted violence prevention (STVP).

•provides for the 2020-2021 fiscal year, 37 full-time equivalent positions and the recurring

sum of $4,827,538 and the nonrecurring sum of $1,043,415 from the General Revenue Fund

to the FDLE to implement a statewide STVP. (Cook)

HB 995 (Davis) and SB 1014 (Rouson) require certain 911 public safety telecommunicators to receive telephone cardiopulmonary resuscitation training and the Department of Health to establish a procedure to monitor adherence to this training. (Cook)

CS/SB 788 (Book) and HB 997 (Casello) require the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), in consultation with law enforcement agencies throughout the state, to establish a uniform statewide rule on preparing for and responding to an active assailant. The bills also require each law enforcement agency to adopt an active shooter policy or rule, as appropriate, by January 1, 2021. (Cook)

SB 562 (Bracy) revises the circumstances under which a law enforcement officer is authorized to use objectively reasonable force. The bill prohibits the use of deadly force against a person based on the danger that person poses to the law enforcement officer, if an objectively reasonable law enforcement officer would believe that the person does not pose an imminent threat of death or serious physical harm to the law enforcement officer or others. (Cook)

HB 273 (Sabatini) removes a requirement that a license is needed to carry a concealed weapon or firearm. (Cook)

SB 428 (Braynon) adds performing arts centers or legitimate theaters to the list of places where weapons or firearms are prohibited. (Cook)

CS/HB 183 (Ponder) and SB 1524 (Gainer) authorize city and county commissioners who are appropriately licensed to carry concealed weapons or firearms to a meeting of the governing body of which he or she is a member. (Cook)

SB 242 (Braynon) and HB 25 (Jones) reduce criminal penalties for possession of 20 grams or less of cannabis and products containing less than 600 milligrams of THC and specify that first-time juvenile violators are eligible for civil citation or other prearrest diversion programs. (Cook)

CS/CS/CS/SB 140 (Hutson) and CS/CS/HB 65 (Rodriguez, A.M.) create an exemption allowing for the use of fireworks on four days: New Year’s Day (January 1), Independence Day (July 4) and New Year’s Eve (December 31). The bills were amended with language clarifying that any local government regulations relating to the use of fireworks are still in effect. (Cook)

HB 249 (Slosberg) prohibits a person from operating a motor vehicle while holding or touching a wireless communication device. This bill does provide several exceptions such as first responders performing in their official capacity or drivers accessing safety-related information including emergency, traffic or weather alerts. (Branch)

SB 134 (Taddeo) and HB 6009 (Daley) repeal the current statutory preemption prohibiting cities from regulating firearms and ammunition. (Cook)

CS/SB 520 (Gruters) and HB 1433 (Yarborough) allow police and fire departments to use drones to manage crowd control and traffic as well as gather evidence at a crime or traffic crash scene. The bills also permit a state agency or political subdivision to operate drones for assessing damage after a natural disaster. (Branch)

HB 6083 (Rodriguez, Anthony) preempts cities, counties and the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles from installing, maintaining, or utilizing red light cameras effective July 1, 2023. (Branch)

HB 1405 (Greico) requires public swimming pools to have a telephone available for all public swimming pool users in case of an emergency. (Cook)

SB 1472 (Book) authorizes the governor to mandate certain improvements to a local government’s public safety communications system if the Department of Management Services finds that the system is inadequate. A system can be found “inadequate” if the system is unable to support the public safety needs of a community based on the age of the system, the number of towers available within the community or the ability of the system as a whole to withstand high volumes of radio and cellular traffic during a specific timeframe. The bill requires local governments to reimburse the state for improvements made to inadequate community communication systems. (Cook)

HB 799 (Gregory), SB 1534 (Baxley) and HB 801 (Gregory) – Pub. Rec./Trade Secrets

SB 966 (Gainer) – Public Records/Disaster Recovery Assistance

HB 1035 (Raschein) – Pub. Rec./Records and Information Provided to Specified Entities for Disaster Recovery Assistance

HB 755 (Dubose) and SB 1060 (Thurston) – Pub. Rec. and Meetings/911 and E911 Communication Systems

HB 1007 (Valdes) and SB 1030 (Stargel) – Public Records

SB 1862 (Brandes) – Public Records/Criminal History Records and Related Information

SB 196 (Taddeo) requires cities to provide an electronic payment option for the payment of fees associated with a public record request. (Cook)

CS/SB 162 (Perry) and HB 195 (Rodrigues) are two bills relating to public record requests. The bills

prohibit a city, after receiving a public record request, from filing an action for declaratory judgement against the individual or entity making the request. These bills would prevent cities from seeking clarification from the courts as to whether a record is exempt or exempt and confidential. (Cook)

CS/SB 506 (Perry) and CS/CS/HB 441 (DiCeglie) amend current law to increase the maximum dollar amount for continuing contracts for public construction projects from $2 million to $4 million. The bills also increase the cap for study activity associated with public construction projects from $200,000 to $500,000. (Cook)

HB 257 (Antone) and SB 1518 (Gruters) amend the Consultants’ Competitive Negotiation Act to clarify that cooperative purchasing between governmental agencies is allowed if certain conditions are met. (Cook)